


Draco Dormiens

by themadmage



Series: themadmage's Harry Potter one-shots and standalones [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Charlie Weasley, Can't have a Charlie story without Dragons, Dragons, Gen, Populated with Hogwarts Mystery characters but no mention of Hogwarts Mystery plots, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 13:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21162287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themadmage/pseuds/themadmage
Summary: Charlie has a soulmark.





	Draco Dormiens

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Fandom Aspec Fest 2019 - this year's theme was trope inversion, and my chosen trope is soulmates/soulmate-identifying marks.

"_Woah,_ is that a soulmark?" 

Absently, Charlie raised his hand to the right side of his neck, just below his ear, where the alchemical symbol for fire had sat since the day he was born. "Yeah," he shrugged. "I'm Charlie, what's your name?"

"Jae. Have you met your soulmate, yet?"

"Er- no."

"Well, she's probably at Hogwarts, right?"

Before Charlie could respond, Bill cut in from two seats down. "Oi! Lay off my little brother's soulmate, he's embarrassed about it."

Charlie just groaned. He thought he had the _right _to be embarrassed, quite honestly. It was just a triangle, but it was all people ever talked about when they met him. How lucky he was to have a soulmate - it was a rare gift to be given, you know - and how adorable they would be when he met her. His mum's friends cooed over it, and pinched his cheeks, and Charlie would really rather talk about Welsh Greens and Chinese Fireballs and the Antipodean Opaleye. 

"Say," Charlie said to Jae. "What do you think about dragons?"

On Jae's other side, another of their new roommates gave a terrified sounding squeak.

Tonks was rapidly becoming one of Charlie's favorite people at Hogwarts. She didn't like dragons as much as he did, but he'd been informed more than once that nobody did. She listened to him chatter on about his favorite breeds while planning pranks for Filch, though, and didn't complain. Something about her radiated coolness. (It may have been the pink hair.)

Best of all, though, was that she _never _brought up his stupid soulmark. 

She didn't ask about it, or make gooey faces, or "subtly" check other girls' necks for a matching mark. Tonks completely ignored the presence of the little triangle, and did it so naturally that Charlie could almost forget it was there. 

"Help me break into Filch's office and leave an Ever Bashing Boomerang in his desk drawer?"

Gradually, Charlie's friends and year mates got used to the presence of his soulmark, and his utter disinterest in talking about it. By the end of his first year, no one in Gryffindor said much of anything. Hufflepuff followed, and at some point in third year Charlie realized that it had been weeks since someone watched his neck instead of his face while they talked.

Charlie felt suddenly at peace, when he realized, as though he'd lost some tension that he didn't even know he carried.

That peace lasted about a year. No good thing could last forever, and many of those who had been resigned to ignoring Charlie's soulmark at twelve were no longer willing to put such a thing off at fifteen. Midway through fourth year the staring came back with a vengeance, and with it came the gossip. Everyone knew that Charlie wouldn't talk about his soulmark, so they talked about it without his input instead. It wasn't better.

"One of my roommates asked me to draw a triangle on her neck, today," Tonks told Charlie on the morning of Valentine's Day. He slumped against the wall. "I waited until the room was empty so no one could tip her off, and drew a penis instead. Look - here she comes!"

Charlie then had to stutter his way through a conversation with the poor girl, a red flush traveling down his neck, while trying desperately not to stare at the ink on her neck while she preened and showed it off. It took nearly ten minutes for her to leave without him agreeing to a Hogsmeade date. As soon as she was gone, Tonks burst into laughter. 

"You know the best part?" she asked, once she'd calmed down.

Charlie sighed. "What?"

"She wanted to make sure it wouldn't rub off and give her away. That's indelible ink."

This finally drew a laugh from Charlie. He felt a _little _bad for the girl, but that's what she got for asking Tonks of all people to make a semi-permanent mark on her skin. "It's just so tiring," Charlie admitted.

Tonks nodded. "I understand."

He gave her a half-grin, before- "You do?"

Tonks nodded, looked quickly around the corridor to make sure they were alone, and pulled down the collar of her robe. Just below her clavicle sat three concentric circles. "It's a symbol for truth, supposedly. I don't worry about it much, but my roommates are obsessed."

"Oi, speaking of roommates, isn't one of yours brilliant with potions?"

Within two weeks, Charlie's hair fell to his shoulders thanks to Penny Haywood's brewing skills. He couldn't get rid of his soulmark, but he could take away people's ability to stare. "You look more like Bill, now," Tonks told him. "It's not a bad thing."

"Aren't you worried that you'll never find her if you cover it up?" 

Charlie shrugged. "I'll have to meet whoever it is at some point, if we're fated. I'm not fussed." In a show of how little he cared, he went back to his book. A magizoologist had spent some time observing some of the last Hungarian Horntails, and the book was illustrated heavily with pensieve photos. 

Charlie vented to Tonks about it. Ever since she'd shown him her own mark, they'd both been able to more freely discuss the frustrations that sometimes came with the _gift _of a soulmate. 

"You're not interested in girls at all, are you?" she asked him. Charlie shrugged. "But then, I've never seen you eyeing any boys, either. Maybe your soulmate is a dragon."

In sixth year, a rumor went around the school that Badeea Ali must be Charlie's soulmate because her hijab would cover the mark. Charlie and Badeea shared a few classes, and a few common acquaintances, but they'd never really talked much. She showed no interest in getting closer to him, so Charlie assumed the rumors were false and went back to his Care of Magical Creatures essay.

Professor McGonagall had helped him to get in contact with the Romanian Dragon Reserve after his career meeting last year, and he needed high marks in Care and Defense so that he'd stand out when he applied for an apprenticeship there after graduation. Charms and Transfiguration were also considered a plus. Also, Tonks needed help getting into the Prefects' bathroom for a prank.

By seventh year, Charlie was adept at ignoring gossip about himself. He had other things to busy himself with, like keeping Tonks from breaking under the pressure of their NEWTs and ruining her chances of making the Aurors. For himself, he had a conditional acceptance to go to the dragon reserve to study, and he was confident he'd make the marks he needed. Care of Magical Creatures had always been his best class, even if Kettleburn never brought in a dragon. 

The people on the reserve were new to Charlie, so he'd braced himself for a new round of questioning over his soulmark. To his surprise, it never came. Working with dragons was dangerous and demanding, and the fact that there was only one new apprentice besides Charlie meant the average maturity level was much higher than at Hogwarts.

Between trips to dragon pens, Charlie made new friends. He wrote about his favorite Peruvian Vipertooth to Tonks, who wrote back about Auror training.

Near the end of his first year, his new friends helped him smuggle a baby Ridgeback for Ron and Hagrid. Two years after joining the reserve, one of the mother dragons died while sitting her clutch and the reserve team was set to hand-raising four Swedish Shortsnouts. The day their eggs hatched, one of Charlie's friends burst out laughing over the baby dragon she was weighing. 

"Charlie, get over here!"

Undeniably curious, Charlie handed his own hatchling off and approached Mina, who was still chuckling and pointing at the dragon. On the right side of his neck, just below the skull, sat the strangest markings he'd ever seen on a dragon. An upright triangle - the alchemical symbol for fire.

"Someone get a picture, Tonks will never believe this."

**Author's Note:**

> Charlie's soulmate is a dragon. The other handlers give assign Charlie to be solely responsible for this dragon, who he names Dazhbog after a Slavic god of solar fire who rides in the sky. 
> 
> Tonks laughs for days when she gets the picture.
> 
> Dazhbog and Charlie are inseparable, the dragon becoming so attached to his person that even after he's grown and can be independent the two are together more often than not. Dazhbog is his person's protector and friend.
> 
> The other Weasleys are incredulous at first, but in the end they're glad that Charlie is happy. Of course his soulmate is a dragon. Molly is a little disappointed that there won't be grandchildren from him, but Charlie only has to suggest bringing some baby dragons over to the Burrow once before she doesn't bring it up again.
> 
> Eventually, Charlie learns about asexuality and it clicks into place for him. He does wonder how he ended up with a soulmark, though.


End file.
